Fiona Mclean

I work primarily with printmaking, experimenting with various techniques including etching, screen-printing, lithography and mono-printing.
Art has always played an important role in my life and it has always been a vehicle for personal expression for my passion. My choice of Art has become a voice in a silent world, a way of expressing what it is to be a silent observer of the world. I express all the emotions through my hands and facial expressions. Since graduating in printmaking from the University of Wolverhampton, I have continued to pursue the artwork full time. Over the last few years my work have been inspired by life experiences and journeys overseas, to Kenya, Japan and Egypt. Further residencies in Ireland and England have provided a space for me to experiment in other media with other deaf artists.
Description of the Prints
I have made prints on the theme of music and musical instruments. Although I could not hear the actual notes of the music I felt the inspiration of the vibrations. This experience of the musical world I have attempted to visualize in my prints. Speaking to other deaf people about their experience of music the reaction is always different. Some felt sensations in their feet, others through their chest, and abdomen. I feel the vibrations in my feet and through my legs up to my chest; through my hand up my arm. Using the image of a tree, the music spreads from the roots to the branches. Like water gushing from the tap the motion of the water describes the vibration that goes through my legs, up to the upper body. In the prints I try to describe my personal sensations, and experiences with sounds.
My artwork consists of screen printing, the technique used to illustrate the different sounds, each producing a unique vibration which can be interpreted in different ways i.e. the soft tapping, developing into the beat then eventually the bang. Some of the artwork shows words spreading across the background with a figure and arm representing the sound itself which is interpreted in many different ways by different people.